1981 Minnesota Vikings: 7-9-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 5-3-0 (169 points scored, 169 allowed) Road record: 2-6-0 (156 points scored, 200 allowed) Head Coach: Bud Grant 325 points scored (13th of 28 teams), 369 points allowed (21st) NFL Averages: 20.7 points/game (330.8 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 382 709 4,333 ( 2) 5.87 27 29 391 1,512 (28) 3.9 8 5,845 ( 6) 50 Defense: 265 481 3,328 (18) 6.47 26 16 540 2,045 (15) 3.8 15 5,373 (17) 35
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 7 Rick Danmeier K 16 6'0 200 29 5 Sioux Falls 8 Greg Coleman P 15 6'0 178 27 5 Florida A&M 9 Tommy Kramer QB 14 6'1 199 26 5 Rice 11 Wade Wilson QB 3 6'3 212 22 R East Texas State 12 Steve Dils QB 2 6'1 190 25 3 Stanford 22 Jarvis Redwine RB 3 5'10 198 24 R Nebraska 23 Ted Brown RB 16 5'10 198 24 3 North Carolina State 25 Kurt Knoff DB 16 6'2 188 27 5 Kansas 27 John Turner DB 13 6'0 199 25 4 Miami 28 Ahmad Rashad WR 16 6'2 200 31 9 Oregon 29 John Swain DB 12 6'1 195 22 R Miami 31 Eddie Payton RB 16 5'8 179 30 4 Jackson State 32 Tony Galbreath RB 14 6'0 230 27 6 Missouri 34 Rickey Young RB 16 6'2 195 27 7 Jackson State 36 Sam Harrell RB 4 6'2 213 24 1 East Carolina 37 Willie Teal DB 16 5'10 195 23 2 Louisiana State 44 Walt Williams DB 16 6'0 185 27 5 New Mexico State 45 Tom Hannon DB 16 5'11 193 26 5 Michigan State 49 Keith Nord DB 16 6'0 197 24 3 St. Cloud State 50 Jeff Siemon LB 16 6'2 237 31 10 Stanford 51 Jim Hough OG 16 6'2 267 25 4 Utah State 52 Dennis Johnson LB 16 6'3 230 23 2 Southern California 53 Henry Johnson LB 16 6'1 235 23 2 Georgia Tech 54 Fred McNeill LB 16 6'2 229 29 8 UCLA 55 Scott Studwell LB 16 6'2 237 27 5 Illinois 56 Dave Huffman OG 13 6'6 255 24 3 Notre Dame 57 Robin Sendlein LB 16 6'3 224 22 R Texas 58 Jim Langer C 9 6'2 253 33 12 South Dakota State 59 Matt Blair LB 16 6'5 229 31 8 Iowa State 61 Wes Hamilton OG 16 6'3 255 28 6 Tulsa 62 Brent Boyd OG 3 6'3 260 24 2 UCLA 65 Neil Elshire DE 4 6'6 256 23 1 Oregon 67 Dennis Swilley C 16 6'3 241 26 5 North Texas State 72 James White DT 16 6'3 263 28 6 Oklahoma State 73 Ron Yary OT 16 6'6 255 35 14 Southern California 75 Randy Holloway DE 16 6'5 245 26 4 Pittsburgh 76 Tim Irwin OT 7 6'6 275 22 R Tennessee 77 Mark Mullaney DE 15 6'6 242 28 7 Colorado State 78 Steve Riley OT 16 6'6 253 28 8 Southern California 79 Doug Martin DE 16 6'3 258 24 2 Washington 80 Terry LeCount WR 16 5'10 172 25 4 Florida 81 Joe Senser TE 16 6'4 238 25 2 West Chester 82 Bob Bruer TE 15 6'5 235 28 3 Mankato State 85 Sammy White WR 16 5'11 189 27 6 Grambling 87 Leo Lewis WR 4 5'8 170 25 1 Missouri 88 Mardye McDole WR 9 5'11 195 22 R Mississippi State 89 Ken Sanders DE 9 6'5 245 31 10 Howard Payne 91 Ray Yakavonis DT 15 6'4 243 24 1 East Stroudsburg
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Tommy Kramer 593 322 54.3 3,912 6.60 12.1 26 4.4 24 4.0 19 149 72.6 Steve Dils 102 54 52.9 607 5.95 11.2 1 1.0 2 2.0 8 66 66.1 Wade Wilson 13 6 46.2 48 3.69 8.0 0 0.0 2 15.4 2 19 16.3 Ted Brown 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 1 100.0 0 0 0.0
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Ted Brown 83 694 8.4 2 Joe Senser 79 1,004 12.7 8 Sammy White 66 1,001 15.2 3 Ahmad Rashad 58 884 15.2 7 Rickey Young 43 296 6.9 2 Terry LeCount 24 425 17.7 2 Tony Galbreath 18 144 8.0 0 Bob Bruer 7 38 5.4 3 Leo Lewis 2 58 29.0 0 Sam Harrell 2 23 11.5 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Ted Brown 274 1,063 3.9 6 Tony Galbreath 42 198 4.7 2 Rickey Young 47 129 2.7 0 Terry LeCount 3 51 17.0 0 Jarvis Redwine 5 20 4.0 0 Leo Lewis 1 16 16.0 0 Steve Dils 4 14 3.5 0 Tommy Kramer 10 13 1.3 0 Sam Harrell 1 7 7.0 0 Joe Senser 1 2 2.0 0 Jeff Siemon 1 0 0.0 0 Sammy White 2 -1 -0.5 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Eddie Payton 39 898 23.0 1 Keith Nord 14 229 16.4 0 Mardye McDole 11 170 15.5 0 Tony Galbreath 1 16 16.0 0 Rickey Young 1 15 15.0 0 Matt Blair 1 0 0.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Eddie Payton 38 303 8.0 8 0 Sammy White 1 0 0.0 0 0 Tom Hannon 0 0 ? 1 0 Keith Nord 0 0 ? 1 0 |
1981 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 2 39 WR Mardye McDole 26 Mississippi State [pick acquired from BAL] 2 45 LB Robin Sendlein 72 Texas 2 52 RB Jarvis Redwine 26 Nebraska [pick acquired from LA via WAS, BAL] 3 74 OT Tim Irwin 201 Tennessee [pick acquired from NE] 4 101 DB John Swain 77 Miami 5 123 DE Wendell Ray Missouri [pick acquired from BAL] 7 184 RB Don Shaver Kutztown (Pa.) 8 210 QB Wade Wilson 125 East Texas State 10 266 WR James Murphy 10 Utah State 11 293 OT Bill Stephanos Boston College 12 320 TE Brian Williams 1 Southern
Traded draft picks: #1 to BAL (Donnell Thompson), #3 to NO (Hoby Brenner), #5 to NO (Jerry Boyarsky), #6 to MIA (Fulton Walker), #9 to SEA (Jim Whatley)
Transactions:
| 04-28-1981 | traded Minnesota's #1 pick in the 1981 draft to Colts for Baltimore's #2 and #5 picks and Los Angeles' #2 pick in the 1981 draft |
| 08-31-1981 | traded Minnesota's #3 pick in the 1982 draft to Saints for Tony Galbreath |
| 09-01-1981 | Seahawks claimed Doug Sutherland on waivers |
1981 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/05/81 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 13-21 0-1-0 09/14/81 vs Oakland Raiders L 10-36 0-2-0 09/20/81 vs Detroit Lions W 26-24 1-2-0 09/27/81 at Green Bay Packers W 30-13 2-2-0 10/04/81 vs Chicago Bears W 24-21 3-2-0 10/11/81 at San Diego Chargers W 33-31 4-2-0 10/18/81 vs Philadelphia Eagles W 35-23 5-2-0 10/25/81 at St. Louis Cardinals L 17-30 5-3-0 11/02/81 at Denver Broncos L 17-19 5-4-0 11/08/81 vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 25-10 6-4-0 11/15/81 vs New Orleans Saints W 20-10 7-4-0 11/23/81 at Atlanta Falcons L 30-31 7-5-0 11/29/81 vs Green Bay Packers L 23-35 7-6-0 12/06/81 at Chicago Bears L 9-10 7-7-0 12/12/81 at Detroit Lions L 7-45 7-8-0 12/20/81 vs Kansas City Chiefs L 6-10 7-9-0